PALM DESERT, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — Carolyn M. Stark, assistant provost of UC Riverside, has been appointed interim executive director of UCR Palm Desert in the absence of Executive Director Ken Walters, who is currently on medical leave.

In making the announcement UCR Executive Vice Chancellor Ellen Wartella, said Stark's appointment will ensure the continuity of UCR Palm Desert initiatives.

“UCR Palm Desert has excellent momentum and Carolyn Stark’s experience and leadership will help carry our programs and initiatives to their next logical level. Her record of success with executive education programs in particular is of immense value as we explore and plan future programs that link with our mission and objectives,” Wartella said.

Before coming to UCR last September, Stark was president and chief executive officer of the Austin Technology Council in Austin, Texas, an organization designed to help emerging growth-companies expand and thrive. She also served as executive director of the Center for Lifelong Engineering Education at the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. From 1988 to 1998 she was director of business development for the Stanford Center for Professional Development at Stanford University.

“I am excited to join UCR Palm Desert at this important juncture,” Stark said. “Our two graduate academic programs are firmly under way and we are turning attention now to expanding our range of offerings. We will soon announce a suite of new educational opportunities aimed at further contributing to the economic development and growth of the Coachella Valley, along with plans for conferences and seminars on such topics as Internet retailing and technology transfer.”

Also announced was the retirement of Terry L. Green, director of external relations and campus operations at the Palm Desert campus, effective July 1. He will return in the fall in a limited role, assisting the administration in program development, student scholarships and internships, and business- plan projects.

Green’s three decades of experience includes work in administration and resource development with UCR and with College of the Desert, serving as director, assistant dean and dean. He has also served in leadership roles on a number of local and regional public agency and private nonprofit boards throughout his career. Currently, Green serves on boards of the McCallum Theatre, the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, the College of the Desert Alumni Association, The Friends of the Desert Mountains, and the Palm Desert Sister Cities Committee.

“I am particularly interested in working to improve college-going rates of our youth, preserving our natural resources and developing performing-arts facilities at the McCallum Theatre, so you will see me becoming more active on those fronts,” Green said. “It has been my honor and privilege to assist my alma mater, UCR, and our benefactor, Dick Heckmann, in the development of this special campus. I look forward to a continued association with my colleagues, the students and supporters of UCR Palm Desert.”

“Terry Green has been instrumental in the creation and growth of UCR Palm Desert,” said Wartella. “His contributions in that regard and his dedication to higher education in the Coachella Valley will be long remembered. We wish him the very best as he steps down from his role as a widely respected higher education administrator and are grateful for his willingness to continue as an adviser to our administration.”

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The University of California, Riverside
(www.ucr.edu) is a doctoral
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a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to
Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world.
Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment has exceeded 21,000 students.
The campus opened a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by
way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual
statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion.

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